Some Pre Summer Thoughts

I know that I am showing my age, but I was really saddened last week when Bill Moyers announced that he was retiring from his weekly "Bill Moyer's Journal" show on PBS.  So much of our public airway space is now filled with mindless drivel, it is a real tragedy when an intellectually provocative discussion of the issues falls by the way.  Way back at its beginning, cultural philosophers were warning that with all the potential television might offer, the guys in the network marketing departments might one day carry the day.  Sixty years or so later, the great educator has indeed become the very antithesis of the mind expanding instrument it might have been.  Instead we are drowning in one juvenile spoonful of brain pablum after another.  Even the so-called news programs on commercial television are little more than commercially slick productions of info-tainment.  From shouting Tea Baggers to the Balloon Boy, we are left with the illusion of being well-informed.  So what do I do now Bill?  Let me see, I can flip over to a stimulating match of professional wrestling, jump into yet another version of hunk and hot babe super cops foiling the criminal machinations of stereotypical minority bad guys, or dive into the self-absorbed whining of shallow post adolescents stabbing each other in the back on yet another reality show.  Say it ain't so Bill, say it aint' so!

Speaking of Moyers, sometime in the winter of 2008, Ralph Nader was on "The Journal" and he was asked why he was running for president again.  Didn't he know, queried Moyers, that he was stealing votes from the Democratic candidate and making it easier for a Republican to win?  Without missing a beat Nader fired back that there was so little that was actually different about Democrats and Republicans that his was the only campaign that held out the hope of any real reform.  So, wind ahead to 2010 and listen to the Washington talking heads blather on about financial reforms.  First there is our boy wonder Treasury Secretary, Tim Geitner, who was delivering a blistering attack against the big banks and the SEC for not effectively regulating them prior to the 2008 financial tsunami.  Problem is that Geitner, as the past director of the NYC branch of the Fed enthusiastically supported reducing the role of the SEC while the economy was getting ready to explode.  And now in his incarnation as super-regulator, who does Big Ted choose as his top aide to help him do the job?  Are you ready?  The number two man at the Treasury Department came to government as one of the top executives from Lehman Brothers.  Oh yeah, this week while Goldman-Sachs posted both record profits and record executive bonuses, it was revealed that they were actually betting against their investment recommendations because they knew the economy was about to tank.  Why you might ask were they being so bold?  During the election campaign of 2008, it turns out that their number one most popular campaign to contribute to was. . . Barrack Obama's!  How's that for change you can believe in.

Then of course there are the cries of outrage from the Senate and House Republicans about the Democrats being in the pocket of Wall Street Bankers.  Oops, turns out that the top Republican in the Senate, Mitch McConnell and his counterpart in the House, perpetual tan-boy, John Boener led all of the rest of the 535 members of Congress in dipping into the money well at Goldmann.  Last week one of my bright AP Government students pointed out that we might be better off if we follow one rule for the upcoming elections of 2010.  His suggestion, vote for anyone who is not a Democrat or a Republican.  Might not be a bad idea.

Finally, on the new immigration law in Arizona.  First, something upon which we can all agree: we cannot, as a nation, move toward extending healthcare and social security benefits for our citizens if these programs become open to the entire world.  Even the richest country cannot pay for that. Thus we need a comprehensive federal immigration law.  The Constitution empowers the national government, not the states to set American policy vis a vis our international borders.  If the Arizona law demonstrates anything, beyond a white backlash in a state that is rapidly moving toward non-white majority status, it is a cry for a sound and workable national policy.  Too bad the demagogues like Glenn Beck and Lou Dobbs keep getting in the way.  George Bush actually had a workable plan for immigration before the right wing nuts in his party trashed it.  As for Arizona, perhaps a quick look at the 4th Amendment to the Constitution might be in order.  But then it might just be that for many right wing Republicans  in the Grand Canyon state, a law preventing "driving while Mexican" is just what they were looking for.  Anyone heard from the Arizona "Maverick" on this one?